With WWE’s annual PPV Hell In A Cell this Sunday, nostalgia is in the air, from Badd Blood 1997, No Way Out 2000 and Wrestlemania 28, the cell has either defined careers or ended them. From it’s inception the Cell was seen as the ultimate end to a feud, the climax between two behemoths who have nothing left to give, the Cell was the last option. The Hell In A Cell structure became so popular that in 2009 the WWE named a PPV after it, in my opinion this is what destroyed the aura of the HIAC match. What went from being one of WWE’s greatest gimmick turned into a mediocre watered down cash cow. In the six years following the match becoming a PPV the match itself has lost what it had.
Apart from my own personal opinion and WWE’s distinct lack of build to this years edition I’m very much looking forward to this Sunday, both cell matches should provide bags of entertainment. The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar’s epic feud will never be witnessed again and the other should bring a definite end to one of WWE’s biggest feuds of the year between Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt. With my fingers crossed I also hope WWE draw a line under the recent battles of Seth Rollins and Kane, which I feel has been a complete a waste of Rollins time when there is so many other more talented workers on the roster that could have got a shot at Seth’s title on the big show.
Also this Sunday we are supposedly going to see the last of John Cena before he takes his two month break. It was announced on Raw that Cena will defend his US title in an Open Challenge at Hell In A Cell, and who that opponent is, we are yet to know. Rumours have been circulating of Tyler Breeze’s impending promotion to the main roster, however is he the man to dethrone WWE’s main man? As a personal preference I would like to see someone like Finn Balor, Sami Zayn or Dean Ambrose get the opportunity on Sunday, it would certainly give either of those men a terrific career boost and massive credibility.
What I wanted to do this week was look back at my five favourite Hell In A Cell matches that I personally felt defined the gimmick and made it the legendary match it went on to become. I start with my personal favourite and the very first Hell In A Cell match.
Badd Blood 1997.
At Summerslam 1997 Shawn Michaels inadvertently struck the Undertaker in the head with a steel chair and cost him at the time his WWF championship. That set in motion a series of events which culminated at the Badd Blood PPV in October 1997 in the very first Hell In A Cell match. I actually got into wrestling just after this math took place so it was only in the years after that I learnt of the match and it’s impact on WWE, The Undertaker and HBK. It is also a match I watch frequently on the WWE network, as even now it stands the test of time.
The feud between the two had already yielded a must see match at the previous months PPV Ground Zero, which you must go to the WWE network and check out the by the way. As Badd Blood loomed the hostility between the two was evident for all to see and the Hell In A Cell match was the only option left. The PPV itself had a great feel to it with the night slowly edging it’s way towards the evenings main event, the atmosphere was both haunting and electric with fans baying for brutality by the time the Cell was lowered.
The match was an epic encounter between two of the WWE’s premier workers, Michaels as always performed like his life depended on it, his selling of the Undertaker’s vicious attacks was mesmerising. As expected the Undertaker started stronger, he controlled the tempo of the match and kept HBK grounded, this was his match choice after all. When Shawn got his chance the tables turned and the action caught pace which led to a cameraman getting injured meaning the Cell door has to be opened. Once out, the action became tense as Taker repeatedly rammed Shawn into the chain link fence headfirst causing the claret to flow, both men then proceeded to climb the cage. Once atop the Cell the atmosphere rose again and the fans called for more, Undertaker then kicked Shawn off the Cell who fell through the announce table.
The match itself ended in the ring, as the action went on, the favour turned back towards Taker who had the ‘Heartbreak Kid’ in his hands…..then the lights went out! We then witnessed the debut of the big red machine Kane who marched to the ring and Tombstoned the Undertaker costing him the match. Your winner Shawn Michaels.
King of The Ring 1998
The most famous of all Hell In A Cell matches and the one which set the bar for all others to follow took place at the King of the Ring PPV in June 1998. The match pitted two WWE icons in Mick Foley and The Undertaker who had been battling on and off for the two years since Mick’s WWE debut. Not long before the PPV took place Mick had reverted back to his Mankind gimmick after portraying Dude Love during his Spring feud with Stone Cold for the WWF title.
Mankind entered the World Wrestling Federation in 1996 and immediately began feuding with the Deadman, they battled on throughout the spring of 1996 and met at Summerslam in the first ever ‘Boiler Room Brawl’ and a ‘Buried Alive’ match at In Your House in October. Their feud continued into the Survivor Series and they met once more this time in April 1997 at the IYH PPV Revenge of the Taker. Both men then went there separate ways with The Undertaker becoming a more serious version of himself and Mick going on to unleash his three faces of Foley on the WWE Universe.
As of June 1998 Foley decided to end his run as Dude Love and return to a darker character in Mankind, who once reinvigorated, restarted his feud with the Undertaker, the fighting intensified between the two so the only option left was the Cell. So on June 28th 1998 at the King of the Ring they met inside the unforgiving steel structure. Unlike the original Cell match, Mankind and Taker started atop the Cell and brawled from the get go, the Deadman soon took over proceedings. Within minutes of the match starting Mankind was thrown head first off the top of the Cell and went crashing through the announce table at ringside. The comments from Jim Ross can still be heard today “Good God almighty, Good god almighty! That Killed Him” yelled the voice of the WWE. The Undertaker, ringside crew and the fans looked on in astonishment as Mick’s lifeless body lay sprawled on the floor. Watched now as it was then the scene still makes me shudder.
The match seemed over, Foley attached to a stretcher was being taken away….that was until Foley decided to continue with the match. He marched back down to ringside and once more scaled the cage as did the Undertaker on the opposite side. The brawling ensued and before Mankind could mount any offence he was chokeslammed right through the Cell ceiling and on to the ring canvas below. As revealed later the Cell giving way was not meant to happen, the Undertaker has been quoted as saying he thought Foley was dead following the second bump of the evening. The action itself was mesmerising and any fan of the attitude era remembers this match more than any other.
The action continued for a little while longer, both men brawled with Mankind finally getting the upper hand at one point before the Undertaker again delivered a chokeslam but this time on top of thousands of thumbtacks and then finally with a Tombstone Piledriver. The match will be remembered as one of the greatest in WWE history, it started the epic Mick Foley main event push and cemented the Undertaker as WWE’s true Phenom. Both men received a standing ovation after the match and rightfully so.
No Way Out 2000
In February 2000 Triple H was quickly establishing himself as main event player, from what started at the previous years Summerslam PPV he had successfully moulded himself into the ‘MAN’ in WWE. As we entered into the new millennium Triple H became a three-time World Champion and had dubbed himself ‘The Game’ however there were still more challenges ahead and it came in the form of Cactus Jack.
In January 2000 Triple H entered into a feud with Mankind (Mick Foley) which in turn led to a major feud with another of Mick Foley’s alter ego’s the psychotic Cactus Jack. Triple H and Cactus first clashed in a violent Street Fight at the Royal Rumble. Both men dealt out serious amounts of punishment to each other until Triple H pedigree’d Cactus onto thousands of thumbtacks and got the victory. In the aftermath of the match Jack demanded a rematch but Triple H only agreed to it as long as Mick’s career was on the line….the second stipulation was that the match would be thought inside the Hell In A Cell.
By the time No Way Out came round there was much anticipation for this match, especially after the classic street fight at the Rumble. Many expected it the night that Triple H would get his comeuppance and Cactus would win the WWF title and continue onto the main event of Wrestlemania 16. What happened however was a complete act of going out the right way as Mick Foley put Triple H over in the best way and cemented the ‘Game’ as a true WWF headliner and the ‘Man’ within the industry. The match itself went back and forth for over thirty minutes as Cactus attempted to dethrone the Game and become WWF champion, Triple H once more gave a world-class performance to further establish himself.
Like previous Cell matches before the action was hard-hitting and violent, ring steps, barbed wire, chairs and even the cell itself was used as tools of punishment. As in the 1998 match with the Undertaker, Mick managed to find a way out of the caged structure and that is where the match really took a turn for the worse. Triple H was a bloody mess, after receiving several shots to the head from a bat wrapped in barbed wire. He decided to ascend to the top of the Cell. Jack followed in hot pursuit, for his troubles he got kicked off the side of the Cell and fell straight through the announce table at ringside, however Mick’s never die attitude made him get up and fight on.
Cactus once more climbed the Cell wall and the brawling ensued, with the end drawing near Jack attempted a Piledriver, Triple H thought otherwise, he revered the move and backdropped Cactus straight through the Cell roof and onto the canvas below where the ring gave way. Believing the match to be over then, WWF referee Earl Hebner went to call for the bell, however once more the hardcore legend got up and tried to continiue….that was until Triple H delivered his Pedigree and ended the career of Mick Foley. This match is epic in two ways, the first is that a veteran knowing his career was over went out the right way in allowing a younger talent to establish himself, the other is that Mick went out with his head held high, he took the beating and pin like a true professional.
No Mercy 2002
My fourth choice is one of my favourite matches ever. It pitted ‘The Next Big Thing’ Brock Lesnar against WWE’s Phenom The Undertaker. By the time No Mercy rolled round Lesnar was only eight months into his WWE career but had been WWE Champion since August after defeating the Rock at Summerslam. The HIAC match took place after a prolonged personal feud which had yielded an abysmal match at the previous months Unforgiven PPV, at the time rumour was that Taker has refused to lose clean to Lesnar.
With Heyman by his side in the early autumn of 2002 Brock walked into the Cell full of momentum, Undertaker entered with a broken hand (kayfabe) and hell-bent on revenge. The match had to be an improvement on their previous effort and thankfully it was. Both men went at it tooth and nail and what we got was arguably the most bloody Hell In A Cell match in WWE history. The two men hit each other with big power moves and serious brawling, the Undertaker dealt out a great deal of punishment and controlled the tempo of the match for a long period of time. Brock gained the upper hand after a Paul Heyman inspired distraction.
Brock took over after laying waste to the Undertaker in dramatic fashion, about half way through the match Brock picked up the steel steps and sent them careering into the head of the Deadman. Within seconds the cameraman refocused on Taker and the claret gushed from a deep hole in his forehead, the scene was gruesome yet you couldn’t turn away. Although blading was frequent in WWE the sight of someone bleeding profusely was still a sight to see in 2002. From that point on the result was over, Brock had taken over and continued his relentless assault until his opponent could no longer fight back. Just as he did twelve years later at Wrestlemania 30 Brock claimed victory be delivering his patented F5 finisher to a weary broken Deadman.
Hell In A Cell 2014
Since WWE debut the Hell In A Cell PPV in 2009 I feel the gimmick lost the aura it once had, it went from being the ultimate feud ender to just another one of WWE’s gimmick matches. Until the Cell became a PPV the Cell was wheeled about every 18 months, in the mid 2000’s it became Triple H’s match after he made a number of successful appearances in feuds with Mick Foley, Batista, Kevin Nash and HBK. The match was a staple of the attitude era, the bloody barbaric structure was designed for the times, what it wasn’t intended for was to be used as a gimmick in WWE’s new PG era.
The matches that have taken place in the Cell between 2009 and 2013 have been mediocre to very good contests, depending on your stance, it seemed the HIAC was only used because the PPV said so. In 2014 however I felt the Cell regained the aura it once had due to the contest pitting Seth Rollins against Dean Ambrose. Their feud was arguably the best in 2014, they had been at odds since Seth decided to betray his Shield brothers at the start of June and align with the Authority. After weeks of back and forth brawling, beat-downs and shenanigans the only option left was to lock them into the Cell to resolve their differences.
Dean Ambrose evoked memories of Mick Foley’s previous Cell actions when he started the match atop the Cell, goading Seth and J&J security to join him. Rollins instructed his henchmen to climb the cell and contend with Dean , that would not be happening as Ambrose quickly dispatched of the suits and then began brawling with Seth who had made his way up. The match went down memory lane as once more the vision of Mick Foley falling from the Cell was updated by both Dean & Seth. As both men hung off the edge of the Cell they pummelled each other with punches, kicks and headbutts, that was until both couldn’t hold on any longer and fell from the Cell through the announce tables. For the first time in a long time WWE managed to make the Cell feel special again.
Like years previous both men were strapped to stretchers until Dean decided it couldn’t end like this an escaped. He then attacked the EMT’s and pulled Rollins into the Cell where finally the bell rang to signal the start of the match. The match was a hard-hitting brutal affair, Seth sold for Dean and took his punishment for turning his back on his brother all those months before. Both men stood tall in this match and put on a great performance which shone through and easily made the match the best of the evening. The match seemed all but over, as Dean prepared to Curb Stomp Seth’s head through a cinder block, the lights cut out and there standing before Dean was Bray Wyatt. He launched an attack on Ambrose allowing Seth to get the victory.
The Hell In A Cell match has a rich history but due to WWE being a money-making machine the gimmick has lost it’s shine in recent years and become watered down. Seth & Dean rekindled some old memories last year and hopefully this year Bray/Roman & Taker/Brock can do the same.
@Ciaran_1986
Recent Comments